Injuries, fatality reported in east Ukraine clashes between rival rallies

Policemen walk between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists during a rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 13, 2014. (AFP Photo/Alexander Khudoteply) / AFP

At least one person died and up to 28 were treated for injuries following clashes between rival rallies in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Reports said that smoke grenades, fireworks and eggs were thrown in the unrest.

Tensions erupted in the Ukrainian industrial center of Donetsk on
Thursday, where the Russian-speaking population has been rallying
in support of creating an eastern Ukrainian autonomy and against
the decisions of the coup-imposed government in Kiev.

A rally of Ukraine’s integrity supporters was taking place in
Donetsk at the same time and place as anti-government protest.

According to local media reports pro-Maidan activists started
provoking the pro-Russian crowd, by shouting far-right slogans
“Glory to Ukraine” and “Glory to heroes”,
loudly demanding the respect of Ukrainian territorial
sovereignty.

Clashes between the rival rallies reportedly erupted after a
crowd of demonstrators broke through a police cordon separating
the crowds. Law enforcers were trying to take provocateurs away
in police buses.

It was not immediately clear, how many people were injured from
both sides of the clashes, but reports indicated that some had
their faces bloodied in the fight.

Police deployed additional personnel and managed to separate
groups of activists who remained at the square. According to
reports there were around 1,000 people on each rival side.

The pro-Maidan crowd had asked the “ultra-nationalists”
from a local pro-Ukrainian football club to join their rally, and
to bring weapons with them, including baseball bats, an activist
from Donetsk, Sergey Tsiplakov told RT.

“Today we have witnessed a planned provocation, when the
pro-Russian crowd was basically provoked to harsh measures,”
Tsiplakov claims.

Thursday clashes were, Tsiplakov says initially started by the
pro-Maidan protesters who had to show their strength to the OSCE
observer mission.

“What they needed was to create a show for the OSCE
observers, a show of display that was aimed to show that in this
region, everyone supports the local government and the events on
Euro-Maidan”

He accused the government in Kiev of constantly provoking the
increase of tensions in the Donbas region by “directly insulting”
the population of a region where “75-80 percent of the people
share a pro-Russian attitude.”

“The authorities keep on provoking us. They are provoking us
by holding paid rallies in the same place, organized under the
umbrella slogan of ‘For a United Ukraine’ but actually they are
organized to show support for the regional governor, an oligarch,
and his Kievan junta.”

“The authorities pursuing through repressive and provocateur
methods,” Tsiplakov says. The people in Donbass region are
angry at the Kiev’s government because the authorities there have
simply “armed” and offered government positions to
ultra-nationalist “fighters”, he says, warning that
plans to officially create militarized units out of extreme right
fighters “will lead to guerrilla warfare.”

“Right now the tension within society is great,” the
activist told RT. “No-one has listened to Donbas people when
they were holding peaceful rallies, and when we had People’s
Governor Pavel Gubarev, who strictly insisted on a peaceful
course of action. He and his like minds were arrested,”
Tsiplakov says claiming the reasons for Gubarev’s detention and
arrest were fabricated.

The wife of Pavel Gubarev told LifeNews that there is indeed
strong support for Russia in Donetsk.

"Yesterday, there was news that the OSCE observer mission
arrived in the city and that they along with local students were
planning to hold a small rally to show that the people in Donetsk
support Ukraine's integration with Europe and that there is no
support for Russia at all,” Ekaterina Gubareva told
LifeNews. “This deeply angered us because it is not true! We
have decided to organize our own peaceful rally to go out and
tell everyone that there is more of us and we support the
referendum!”

Pavel Gubarev, a local advertising executive, was proclaimed the
People’s Governor at a mass rally on March 3. Denouncing
Ukraine's coup installed government, he brushed aside the
governor appointed by Kiev, Sergey Taruta, calling for a
referendum in Donetsk.

Gubarev was detained in Donetsk by Special Security Forces last
week and has been under house arrest in Kiev on charges of
violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine, takeover of
power, and seizure of government buildings.